Stoker



March 18, 1924.

c. J. WOOD Filed May 12 1919 Casimir 1 Wood.

Patented Mar. 18, 1924.

use S T CASIMIR 3'. W001), OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

STOKER.

Application filed May 12, 1919. Serial No. 296,674.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OAsIMm J. 001), a citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stokers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improved stoker, particularly useful for stoking sawdust.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification and the appended claim.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of a furnace, fuel hopper and fuel conveyor, and my improved stoker applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a View of the operating means.

Figure 3 is a plan View of the circular grate.

In the drawing, 1 indicates a furnace which includes a shallow fire-box 2 and a thick upper wall 3 above the fire-box which is provided with an elongated vertical fuel conduit 4. A hopper 5 is mounted upon wall 3 over the conduit f. A fuel conduit 6 has a spout 7 for delivering sawdust into the hopper 5. In conduit 6 is mounted an endless conveyor 8 which includes shafts 9 and 10 journaled in the wall of the conduit, sprockets 11 and 12 mounted on said shafts, chain 13 extending around said sprockets and buckets secured to said chain.

On shaft 10 is secured an eccentric 15 around which is mounted a strap 16, to which is secured one end of rod 17. A bell crank lever 20 comprising a short arm 21 and a long arm 22 is pivoted to a support 23. The short arm 21 is connected to the other end of rod 17 An agitator 25, extending into the conduit 4, comprises a rod 26 with fingers 27 projecting radially from its lower end, the upper end of the rod being connected to the bell crank arm 22.

As the conveyor 8 is driven the eccentric 15 rocks bell crank 20 which reciprocates the agitator 27 in the conduit 4, thus feeding the sawdust uniformly and finely through conduit 4 into the fire-box 2. The shallow firebox prevents the sawdust from piling up too high.

The furnace has .a circular grate 30, directly below the conduit 4:, of such dimension that the sawdust dropped through said conduit forms a conical pile covering the-grate completely and tapering up to the lower circular edgeof said conduit, as indicated in dotted lines 31 in Fig. 1. The sawdust extends from the pile up through the conduit 4: into the hopper also indicated by the dotted line 32 in Fig. 1. The circular grate being covered by the sawdust, the draft cannot pass around the outside of the pile, but must pass directly through the pile, upon which the sawdust is uniformly fed, thus causing complete combustion in burning up the sawdust in the furnace.

It will also be observed that the sawdust being stacked on the grate extends from the grate to the upper wall of the firebox at the inner or discharge end of the conduit 4C. This controls or closes the conduit against the ingress of air into the firebox, thereby causing the stack of sawdust or fuel to burn evenly from the grate upwards, which is most satisfactory. This is an important feature, because if the conduit 4; was left open, air would rush into the firebox through the conduit, and hence the consumption of the fuel would not be obtained to the best advantage. The closing of the conduit 4: against the ingress of air by the fuel itself without employing an additional agency or mechanism, and at the same time continuing the feeding of the fuel into the furnace, is an essential feature of this invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

The combination of a furnace having a top wall with a vertical conduit therethrough, a grate within the furnace arranged under said conduit, a fuel receiving hopper arranged on said wall of the furnace to discharge through said conduit therein, a movable conveyor positioned above the hopper for delivering fuel thereinto, said conveyor including a rotatable supporting shaft, a bell crank lever journaled above said hopper and having one portion of said lever extending toward said shaft and the other away from said shaft, an eccentric secured to said conveyor shaft, a strap about said eccentric, a rod connecting said strap with the remote end portion of said bell crank lever and an agitator in said conduit and connected with the other end of said bell crank lever.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

CASIMIR J. WOOD. 

